Lin Yu, being a child of fortune, had many tricks up his sleeve.
He actually managed to get someone to bail him out.
After breathing in the fresh air outside for a few moments, Lin Yu's gaze gradually became more determined.
"The school can wait, the cave dwelling is more important!"
With that, Lin Yu rushed non-stop towards the mountainous area his master had left for him.
Yes, he ran!
Currently, Lin Yu was penniless, his wallet had disappeared at some point, and nowadays all transportation required scanning QR codes for payment. As someone who had spent over a decade training in the mountains... his impression of the city was still stuck in the past decade.
No different from a wild man!
He had originally planned to contact Ye Changkong to have someone drive him there.
But the journey to the cave dwelling had to be kept secret - this was his destined opportunity, and he couldn't allow even the slightest mistake.
He ran from afternoon until deep into the night, covering roughly the distance of two marathons - even Kipchoge, the world marathon champion, would have shed tears at the sight.
"Damn, finally made it."
"It was so far, should have just called Ye Changkong after all."
Lin Yu grumbled, looking down at his shoes - the soles were completely worn through, with his big toe poking out.
Even as a Dark Force master, he was thoroughly exhausted.
Lin Yu arrived at the mountain stream and leaped down from above.
The height of about ten meters, though significant, wasn't much of a challenge for a Dark Force master like him.
He landed smoothly, even showing off a bit, despite having no audience.
"Holy crap!!!"
"Which idiot left nails here? [expletives]!"
Lin Yu clutched his foot in pain - a long nail had nearly pierced through his sole.
But with remarkable willpower, he managed to stumble to his feet.
He slowly walked to the stone door... wait, where's the stone door?
Lin Yu's eyes widened as he stared bewilderedly at the electronic door before him, his mind filled with countless question marks.
Lin Yu crouched by the electronic door to examine it carefully, even gently tapping it with his finger.
"Please enter password!"
The electronic synthesized voice startled Lin Yu.
"Damn it, old man Lin, are you messing with me? An electronic door?"
"You set up this so-called sacred realm and told me it opens once every six years? Bull!"
Lin Yu clearly didn't take the electronic door seriously and clenched his fist.
He threw a punch straight at it!
"Ahhhh!!!"
A scream like a slaughtered pig.
"Why is this door so hard? I'm a Dark Force master!"
He couldn't break through, and his fingers were numb from the impact.
If brute force won't work, try cunning!
"What password?"
Lin Yu had no choice but to properly crack this password thing.
[Ding! Please answer three questions, and the door will open automatically]
Lin Yu smiled, confident and arrogant.
Despite spending over a decade training in the mountains, when it came to knowledge... he was undoubtedly a top student!
"Ask away!"
[Question One: Shout 'I am a dog' three times and bark three times]
"Damn you, old man Lin!"
Lin Yu cursed out loud.
This kind of torturous nonsense was exactly the sort of thing old man Lin would come up with.
"Old man Lin, I know this is your doing, and you can probably hear me talking, right? Stop messing with me, I won't bow down."
Lin Yu crossed his arms, maintaining a proud stance.
He continued this battle of wits with thin air for about ten minutes.
Lin Yu was starting to crack.
"Hey? Old man Lin, you're not really going to make me bark like a dog, are you?"
"Can you at least answer me?"
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll remember this grudge!"
"I am a dog! I am a dog! I am a dog! Woof woof woof~"
Lin Yu practically had to grit his teeth to say it.
In Lin Yu's mind, it was still his master playing tricks on him.
[Ding! Now for the second question, please reveal your deepest secret]
Lin Yu shrugged, this wasn't a problem.
"Old man, you already know this, don't you? Peeping at Widow Wang from the neighboring village while she was bathing, you were there with me, why are you playing these games now?"
[Ding! Now for the third question]
Lin Yu's smile grew wider, is that all?
Old man Lin, you're not as tough as I thought.
Is this supposed to be challenging?
[Question Three: Please recite all 10,000 decimal places of pi]
Lin Yu: "???"
What?
Could you possibly be any more sadistic?
Recite 10,000 decimal places? Could you be any more inhuman?
But Lin Yu finally surrendered to reality.
He opened his phone and began reciting the long string of pi digits.
"Heh... just 10,000 digits! It's just reading... not memorizing? This is piece of cake!"
Although Lin Yu thought the question was absurd, mere 10,000 digits... was too simple. Reading two digits per second would only take about an hour, not a difficult task.
"3.1415926...."
When he reached around 400 digits, he suddenly made a mistake.
[Ding! Error, please start over...]
Lin Yu frowned, instinctively sensing something wasn't quite right.
But he started reading again, this time slower and more carefully.
Yet when he reached about 1,000 digits, he made another mistake.
"Damn!"
Had to start over!
Made it to 2,000 digits... damn it!
3,000 digits... curse it!
5,000 digits... ah!
After countless attempts, two nights had passed, and it was already noon of the third day.
Lin Yu was still reading!
He conserved his phone battery as much as possible, and eventually could even recite up to 5,000 digits from memory. His brain was severely overloaded, hungry and tired... his vision blurring.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing all trials, beep! Door opening]
The electronic door opened—
Lin Yu burst into tears.
To think that he, the proud dragon descending from the mountain, a Dark Force master... a tough guy who would bleed but never cry, would actually weep!
He had been tortured beyond humanity, his head now full of nothing but numbers, seeing numbers in everything, feeling like he was about to ascend to become a machine.
"Finally made it in. Lin Xiaotian, just wait until I get my hands on you... I'll pluck every hair from your beard."
Lin Yu practically crawled into the cave dwelling.
The cave was clean, with only a stone table holding a golden jade pendant and a blue-purple manual.
Wait... blue-purple?
Lin Yu was somewhat confused.
Upon closer inspection, Lin Yu drew a sharp breath.
"Five Years of Research and Examination, Three Years of Practice"???
"Is this... is this some kind of new skin for an ancient martial arts manual?"
Lin Yu's mouth twitched as he picked up the thick materials.
"These are really study materials? Damn, it's mathematics? And this year's new edition?"
Even if Lin Yu was dense, he knew he'd been played!
"Damn you, old man Lin, you're just picking on me, aren't you?"
What sacred realm opening once every six years - it was all lies!
Well... this kind of deception was exactly what Lin Xiaotian would do.
But he still stubbornly flipped through to the last page.
Sure enough, there was writing.
[Child, knowledge changes destiny. I know your personality is hasty and your temper is fierce - you must have suffered some setbacks, right? Listen to your master's advice... put aside martial arts and read more books, it'll do you good]
[In this descent from the mountain, we masters want you to temper your heart in the mortal world, advancing too quickly in power isn't good for you]
[Also, don't get too caught up with women, only studying can help you progress - women will only slow down your sword-drawing speed]